Boris Karloff

Born William Henry Pratt, Boris Karloff did not achieve stardom until middle age through the career-defining role of the monster in James Whale’s Frankenstein. There is much more to Karloff’s near forty-year career thereafter than merely reprising this role in The Bride of Frankenstein though.

The Old Dark House

James Whale | USA | 1932 | 72 minutes

Seeking shelter from a storm, five travellers are in for a bizarre and terrifying night when the stumble upon the Femm family estate. Adapted from J. B. Priestly’s novel Benighted and directed by Whale, Karloff’s co-stars include Charles Laughton and Ernest Thesiger.

The Black Cat

Edgar G. Ulmer | USA | 1934 | 65 minutes

American honeymooners in Hungary are trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident. Bela Lugosi co-stars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKH0NQQEn38

Corridors of Blood

Robert Day | UK | 1958 | 86 minutes

Pioneering surgeon Dr Thomas Bolton fights for the use of anaesthetic in surgery and uses himself as a guinea pig, with tragic consequences as he becomes addicted and involved with a group of body snatchers. Christopher Lee co-stars as Resurrection Joe.

The Comedy of Terrors

Jacques Tourneur | USA | 1963 | 84 minutes

An undertaker who has not had any customers in a long time faces a demand for one year’s back rent and resorts to murder to drum up business. Vincent Price and Peter Lorre co-star.

Mad Monster Party?

Jules Bass | USA | 1967 | 94 minutes

Karloff provides the voice over for Baron Boris Von Frankenstein in this delightful Baskin-Ross animation that prefigures Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride.

Targets

Peter Bogdanovich | USA | 1968 | 90 minutes

Ageing horror star Bryon Orlok’s promotional visit to a Texas drive-in with his latest Gothic coincides with the more modern, real and terrifying figure of a Vietnam veteran on a random killing spree.